GHMPO policy committee approves funding for four additional transportation studies

Posted 4:59PM on Tuesday 14th November 2017 ( 7 years ago )

The policy committee of the Gainesville-Hall Metropolitan Planning Organization (GHMPO) agreed Tuesday to add four transportation study projects to its Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) for the current fiscal year.

Sam Baker, Transportation Planning Manager for GHMPO, outlined the additional studies for committee members, noting that the Georgia Department of Transportation had approved requests to move forward with the studies.

The FY 2018 UPWP will be updated to include an extra $570,000 to complete the studies. The cost for the four studies breaks down as follows:

Dawsonville Highway-McEver Road Connectivity Study $200,000
Gainesville Trail Study $120,000
South Hall Trail Study $150,000
Oakwood Citywide Traffic Improvement Study $100,000

Baker said 80-percent of the funding for the studies will come from federal sources, while the remaining 20-percent will come from local sources.

After the meeting, Baker said that the study that is most pressing is the one involving the Dawsonville Highway-McEver Road area.

"The study will recommend what strategies or steps to take to alleviate traffic congestion," Baker said. "Part of the recommendation may be to build an alternate corridor to divert traffic away from that intersection."

Baker admitted that the traffic along that corridor increased more rapidly than planners realized it would.

"We develop an updated transportation plan every four to five years. In the case of Dawsonville Highway, traffic has increased a lot sooner than we anticipated because of all the commercial development. So, it has become more of an urgent case," Baker said.

Now that the four studies have been added to the UPWP, the next step is to hire consultants to conduct the studies. He says staff is reviewing proposals.

"We will meet next Monday to decide whether we want to interview some of these consultants. We will pick the consultants in December, undertake the study in January, finish by June 30 of next year," Baker said.

To review the UPWP, follow this link.

The GHMPO policy committee's next meeting is March 13, 2018.

The GHMPO Police Committee met Tuesday at the Hall County Government Center on Browns Bridge Road.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2017/11/605733/ghmpo-policy-committee-approves-funding-for-four-additional-transportation-studies